Longknife

I logged in because new game is good and thought "damn, these dudes are all still here."

The comic is trying to say that a big problem with our government is it overlabels everything, obviously.

26 inches?! Pffft, I've seen longer.

Canada will pay for it. So that's where we're dumping sick people? You're dumping them in Germany, too. Pretty sure our medical care system is faster than Canada's and I know there's stats advertising that much. In the last two months alone, I've had ~5 American friends ask me how they could become German/EU citizens.

Guys if I'm half-German am I a half Nazi? How do I know which half of my body hates jewish people?

It won't do jack if those same establishment players adapt their bets to co-align with him, which they're already doing. This isn't progress, this is "we could've fallen off Mt. Everest but instead we only fell off K2."

Aren't you even a bit curious where things are heading? Middle-ground in politics has been slowly disappearing for a while now. This thread may be a glimpse into political future of US. Doesn't take a genius to see where things are going, and I still pay attention. I just meant more that even if this thread were a bastion of sound, respectable discussion, the biggest and worst problem to me is that identity politics have gotten absurd. Even if we recognized that US politics desperately need calm, rational and respectable discussion, we're just a small group of people, and the masses are just absolutely at each other's throats around the clock while the big political players and corporations pull the puppet strings behind it all as the media gladly converts itself to a propaganda machine. Take a look at this. The other day I saw some discussion about if X group was a cult, and it made me remember that aside from the standard practice that often small religious groups are called cults, there is an official definition and a rough outline of how cults behave. It hit me like a ton of bricks that sadly, many of those cult definitions apply to both Democrats and Republicans respectively, or the philosophy behind the warnings holds true for how the parties act in regards to each other now. Both parties lack accountability and refuse to even admit when they were wrong, even when the evidence is overwhelmingly obvious and even when many of their own members wish they'd acknowledge the mistake; this is no longer a trait reserved for slimey politicians, this extends to many of the voters to a degree not seen before. Both parties are to the point where if you question them or become critical of them, you're likely to be labeled as someone from the opposition and ejected from the discussion or ignored (ie, Republican senators refusing town halls). Both parties have questionable financial ties that are highly alarming; I'm not even talking standard lobbying where Senator X took this amount of money to promote big oil, I'm talking people like Clinton and McCain have foundations where money goes through some very shady pockets and we're not sure where it goes or what ends they serve. Both parties fear the worst at this point; best example is many people think Trump is the next Hitler and that the USA will actually become a fascist dictatorship, or the countless times I see stories claiming Germany has muslims with guns running rampant on the streets and woops it was a party with gas pistols. Both parties, because of their reluctancy to acknowledge the faults of their own party, heavily frown upon those that leave and cannot sympathize with why they might leave, instead opting to demonize such people and name them racists or "libtards"; I'd like to switch from a Democrat to an Independent, but if I said that where friends and family could hear me, I'd have less friends and family and probably endure a number of accusations I was racist. And I'm sure all of us can relate to trying to be a part of a political discussion and almost immediately one side or another has mistreated you, attempted to silence you or even censored you for voicing an opinion they didn't like. The last three points on the list are geared a bit more towards a religious cult so don't apply here, and I'm not trying to say Democrats and Republicans are -actually- cults, but the fact they share any of the same mechanics to ANY reasonable degree is rather alarming to me. US politics has always been ****, but yes, absolutely, this is getting worse. This is not the ****ty US politics I'm used to rolling my eyes at, this is some dangerous **** we're dealing with, where the very tools for progress (discussion, respect, democracy, etc) are hardly in play. The issue now is that like a cult...well, we're not exactly all at work breaking down Scientology or the Westboro Baptist Church, are we? No, we know that'll do no good, and that these only die out over time when enough members realize the absurdity and realize it's time to walk. There's no use trying to reason with them because they'd never listen, but hopefully the realize it on their own someday. The problem now is we're not talking about some tiny fringe group we can ignore, we're talking about the two biggest political parties in the United States. There's a lot of potential for this to drag on for decades and there's a lot of potential for serious damage to be done. FFS the Democratic party would rather taunt Russia into a potential war instead of admit they were corrupt. For the first time in my life, my own party (not all supporters of course, but I'm talking the establishment majority and a huge meaningful chunk of supporters) is upset at the idea of breaking down barriers with Russia and actively encourages us to escalate the situation with them. It's mind-numbingly absurd. I sit here hating it because I hate feeling like things are absolutely out of my control and I cannot do anything to change it. I mean look, I'm just one guy, but at least in the past I could voice my opinion and "do my part" as a citizen in my community and amongst my peers. Now? The moment I even open my mouth to talk politics, there's someone that doesn't want me having a discussion, whether it be some asshat shill being paid to do that on web forums, or a friend I've long known that now feels they're "doing the right thing and being a good person" by discouraging any and all dissenting opinions. I never thought I'd see the day where I had American friends using the term "mansplaining" in regards to political conversations while we're on the phone, or when some of my most intelligent and respected friends are taking part in some outrageously hateful protests or local political acts. How do you even begin to solve a problem when the very methods you need to solve it are denied to you? I'm just some average joe. I was never gonna solve the problem anyways. And while I'm sure there's plenty of smarter people out there that could come up with a solution better and faster than I ever could, I do think they're probably encountering the same issues I am, and that honestly really scares me. I have no idea how the USA is gonna improve from this point in time. All I know is what it desperately needs is a candidate like Bernie Sanders (which I'm certain the establishment politicians and their funders would rather see lose to an establishment Republican than let him win) - Democrat or Republican - that largely refuses to participate in identity politics while sticking to the issues, or if not that, any politician that understands the dire importance of preferencial voting to allow 3rd parties to grow. (aka nobody) Last election we debated if voting for Green or Libertarian was pointless, but for 2020, I honestly think splitting either of the big two parties is the best god damned gift we could give the country, even if it means letting your side lose a couple elections.

No one's allowed to build walls of text except me. I have a union.

I haven't been back here in a while and serious question: how can you guys keep going...? I've become so jaded with it all. There's sooooooo much misinformation from both sides it's absolutely absurd. Not to quote Alex Jones (<---idiot) but this really has become "info wars" with both Republicans and Democrats spouting absolute nonsense to fit their agenda, and the divide between the two is bigger than ever. Republicans hating Democrats and vice versa as both blindly vote for their party without thinking twice...? That's always been an issue, but now it's worse than ever and extremely toxic. "Respect" is all but forgotten. Just today I've seen a false flag story of some Turks in Germany celebrating a wedding by blocking traffic in the street and playing with gas pistols (still incredibly dickish) being sold as Islamists "showing their dominance" with actual guns, and I also briefly took part in a conversation before being banned from it entirely. My crime? Made one comment only: I said harassing people with nonstop preaching of how Trump is Satan and demanding others be your audience is not a good way to recruit political allies as it's instead more likely to annoy people and alienate them. This obviously makes me a Republican and an avid Trump fan, so I was barred from discussion. The latter one even resulted in an unneccesary off-colored remark about my disability. I'm a big boy so it doesn't bother me, but still wtf how you gonna make fun of someone for being disabled for SLIGHTLY disagreeing with your political methods?? I'm at an absolute loss and have been for months. I'm at the point I think it's truly impossible for politics in the USA to get any better. It's depressing to watch.

Maher seems like the kind of guy to gaze longingly into a mirror while masturbating.

All the time, and our school children pledge allegiance to Islam every morning while one hand is over their heart and the other is over a döner kebab.

This should be good: Name a country I've commented on the policies of. While it'd be hilarious to watch you embarass yourself, I'll remind you upfront I'm a dual citizen and yes, USA is my other country. German-Americans are actually fairly common. And even so, no, I am not saying you cannot comment on the policies of another country, but I am saying you need to be reasonable about it. I could be critical of Greek's debt, for example, but I likewise would be hesitant to "lecture" them because that's a sensitive topic and there's, for example, a number of reasons for Greeks themselves to feel outraged, as they are now more or less expected to keep up with the productivity of a country with a much greater GDP than theirs, and they may very well be much happier if they could do things at their own pace or may very well have some understandable reasoning to believe states such as Germany and France are giving them a bum deal, despite bailouts. My point is that the tenacity with which people criticize German policy is absolutely ****ing absurd and only serves to highlight one's own bias. It's one thing to say "I feel that was a poor choice," it's another to state "GERMANY IS SELLING IT'S SOUL TO ISLAM, THOSE IDIOTS" and to trust headlines stating that much. At this point it should be obvious (I'd hope) that the media loves hysterics and the US media in particular has gone nuts for years selling an anti-Islamic slant. Mind you, I'm not saying Islam doesn't have it's problems, as there's the extreme on the opposite end that makes the mistake of answering back with a "those poor oppressed muslims" narrative that doesn't do justice to the crimes and the problems that do arise because of muslim extremists, but I am saying that the goal should be to try and have an objective understanding of the facts, not to hysterically spin them to the extreme side of whichever side you support. I would say there's a huge difference between a Syrian and a Saudi, for example, or between a Turk and a Pakistani immigrant, yet such differences are never spoken about. That's precisely what the USA tends to do with fearmongering of muslims, which only died down when it was used as a weakness of Trump's campaign. All the same, I've been asked a number of times by American friends why I don't "come home" since Germany is clearly so dangerous and absolutely riddled with muslim terrorists, and no, that is not a conclusion an ordinary human being makes out of the blue without the media egging them on to believe that way. See how I use USA as my sample because it's a culture I'm familiar with? How I refrain using the UK, Sweden or Poland since I don't know their angle in full? That's called using evidence and one's own experiences to draw conclusions instead of blindly believing the media in whatever extreme or hysterical story they want to sell you today. Again: it's not the anti-immigrant stance itself that I'm against, it's the attitude displayed by those who are not even in Germany as if this is the most obvious choice ever. It's an argument being made from a place of extreme ignorance, and yes, it is drastically different from a German who would argue against immigration or, let's say, a Swede who might concede that thusfar there haven't been overwhelming problems, but that he fears long term this will be a mistake and within a couple years, more problems will manifest. No, that's not happening. Instead, both media publications and normal average joes may as well be pitching this story that every German wakes up at the crack of dawn, walks their sister out to the street corner and then lets the nearest Muslim immigrant have his way with her. I hope it's obvious why that kind of absurd thinking has no place in any serious discussion of policies. Stick to the facts, lose the ego and this blind belief you somehow magically know the circumstances of EVERY immigration case across the globe, and make criticisms based on facts, not wild speculation and doomsday scenarios.

I gotta be honest here: I'm very suspicious of other country's interests in Germany's policies. I regularly see Americans, British, Swedish, Polish....all kinds of different countries commenting on how Germany is dying or under Sharia Law and bla bla bla....well first of all, lolno. Second, even if it were, why do people care...? Like Poland for example doesn't let the refugees in. Okay. Good for Poland. Their country, their choice. So why is it when Germany lets refugees in, somehow all these other countries somehow seem validated in lecturing Germany for doing so...? I live in one of the three states that sees the largest portion of immigrants. Know what I've seen? Syrians addicted to iphones. That's it. They get babbies first iphone, get addicted to it, and no joke, I legit distinguish the turks from the Syrians not by physical traits, but by iphone addiction or general demeanor. I personally have not had an issue with them, nor has there been an issue remotely close to my doorstep or my area. Know what I have seen? American publications wrongly interpretating a scenario that just basic understanding of the German language could've solved. Hysterical headlines that conclude every problem in Germany must be the result of muslims. Remember our "terrorist attack" that turned out to be a German-Iraqi dual citizen with mental stability issues who ran around shooting brown people cause he didn't want foreigners in "his country?" Yeah. I understand 100% the desire to conclude it was ISIS when the story was developing, but I would hope we can look back on it now and say "oh look, Germany hasn't been subjected to nonstop, wide-scale terrorist attacks like some other countries." Since Germany decided to take in roughly 1.5mil refugees, there have been five instances of an attack in the name of islam, one actually targeting Americans rather than Germans, four failing to kill anyone, though injuring 21 in total between them. Alongside this I know of about four additional cases involving an assault of some kind, sexual or physical, at least one resulting in death. If people consider that to be 21 injuries too many or five (or four, depending on interpretation) close calls too many, good for you, you have a right to that opinion and it's a completely reasonable opinion. However, in that same sense, I would state it's rather unreasonable to act as though Germany is being taken over by Sharia law because less than 10 of 1.5mil refugees crossed the line. I would likewise question why the HELL everyone else gets off thinking they can tell Germany it did "wrong" by making this choice given events thusfar. Recently Merkel pointed out that these problem children cannot be viewed as the rule rather than the exception, and the response...? Again I see Americans, British, Polish, Swedish and everyone else that isn't German telling Merkel to cut her BS and go to hell for saying that. I didn't even vote for Merkel, but I still find that reaction to be completely ridiculous. I really have no clue why these other countries' citizens care so much or why they claim to be a better authority on the situation than Germany's own Chancellor. At this point, I wanna link this vid. Give it a quick watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk3NOv6XZ3Q So you've seen the video. Were those muslims? I don't know. I mean the guy sort of has the stereotypical look to him, but he's not exactly brown, though that doesn't neccesarily mean he's not muslim either. Could be, could not be. Know what immediately jumps out at me as evidence against the idea it's muslims rather than just some drunken thug? The fact that he was drinking and smoking. I had a classmate once from Lebanon. He loved Hitler and wanted all the Jews to die. We had a "fun" time telling him that wasn't appropriate and definitely not something to say in Germany of all places. Strangely, when we got an Israeli girl in class, he was fully respectful to her and even went out of his way to be kind to her. The two became friends. Anyways, the thing about Mr. Hitlerfan? He didn't drink. He wouldn't go near alcohol. Many radical muslims won't. And look, again, that's an issue where it varies. One muslim might avoid alcohol, another might drink no problem. I do expect radical islamists would be less likely to drink though and more likely to commit some crimes in modern countries. Both together though...? Weird combo. All I'm saying is that I find it a bit odd to look at that footage and jump to the conclusion "islam did this" when the little evidence we have suggests the contrary (though it's by no means overwhelming evidence), and yet that's precisely what many people are doing. What I find alarming about all of this is I view it as evidence of xenophobia. Let me be clear: not wanting muslim refugees does not make you a racist, a bigot or any other slanderous accusation. It's a perfectly reasonable stance. When I have someone trying to lecture me on how my country should go to hell for accepting refugees that have - for the most part - done absolutely nothing wrong? Yeah, now I'm starting to question why the hell people care, and I'm left to conclude xenophobia truly is on the rise if people are offended by entirely different countries not holding the same stance as them. Great example of what I mean? Here: https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article159236011/Die-alarmierenden-Zahlen-im-Jahresbericht-der-Bundespolizei.html Can't read it? I'll provide a proper translated article in a second, but first here's one in english: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3893436/Angela-Merkel-pressure-refugee-policy-revealed-migrants-committed-142-500-crimes-Germany-six-months-2016.html Ok, so ready for me to make my point? Here's one translated a lot more fairly: http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/11/05/german-federal-police-rise-crime-due-migrant-crisis/ And I quote: Now again: if any German were to say "I consider the rise in theft a problem," cool! That's a reasonable opinion! They have every right to have it! Was in Berlin recently and saw a number of Muslims trying to swindle people with street scams (claiming to be collecting for a charity and the like) and I believe that in a heartbeat...should also mention a snobby Italian restaurant tried to fleece me and charge me double my bill, too (don't eat at Mondo Pazzo). Regardless, if the complaints were in regards to the spike in theft, I'd have no problem with that. Instead? Here's another sensationalist publication that isn't from Germany itself grabbing the story and conveniently leaving out which crimes are spiking in frequency so that the reader's imagination fills in the gaps and may jump to "RAPES AND HONOR KILLINGS" instead of "petty theft and smuggling." And for those thinking "well this is just proof the daily mail is garbage," I invite you to google "germany migrants crime" and thumb through articles yourself. Some even quote the daily mail as a source as they repeat the same stuff. I just wish people would calm the **** down in the sense that from accusations I've seen, a lot of them come from people that have no conceivable way of knowing the facts of the situation, and yet their conclusion is always "Germany is now 90% Muslim and completely at the mercy of Sharia law and their women are raped regularly." Hysterical nonsense gets us nowhere. If you wanna speak against such policies, use facts. There's nothing wrong with being anti-immigration because you don't like clinging to your wallet at the train station or you find the story of the medical student raped and murdered to be one rape and murder too many. Or FFS there's a number of other countries that've suffered far worse results from letting Muslim immigrants in that would make great examples for arguing against such policies. The fact people choose Germany as their point of argument when it's gotta be one of the weaker samples for their argument...? To me that just shows people are more interested in pushing a narrative rather than reviewing the facts, and that mindset is exactly what I find so problematic these days, regardless of the topic being discussed.

Still the greatest game ever made.

Recount will be a waste of time and money. Though I'm looking forward to leftist salt after Trump wins again. I'm all for a recount, but given all we've seen this election cycle, imagine a scenario where the United States actively determines Clinton actually won and, in an unprecedented turn of events, attempts to hand her the election now. That would be a ****storm. Ain't nobody gonna trust such a result. I fully believe rigging goes on from both parties to a degree, but no, I do not believe Trump has enough power and influence to directly call for rigging in 3+ states. Even if it were determined that, for example, let's say Republicans in Wisconsin actively rigged and flipped the results of their own accord, I would be very skeptic, angry and furious about the fact that suddenly the establishment candidate has all the support from all the right people to flip a result.